The Frogmen of the Apocalypse
by TacomaSquall
Summary: This is the tale told by Maiji (Zack's sister) in Vincent Unleashed. This is a work in progress. Please R/R!
1. Prologue

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The Frogmen of the Apocalypse: Gongaga

by TacomaSquall

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Prologue

I moved to Gongaga when I was fifteen years old. ShinRa began construction on a Mako reactor nearby, and the small forest town grew to meet the needs of the construction crew. Daddy was a carpenter and with all of the new homes being built, he was going to be hip-deep in work.

Mommy was a wood-carver. She wanted to work with the varieties of wood that could only be found in the lush Gongaga-area rainforests. It is from Mommy that I get my artistic ability.

Anyway, we packed up and boarded the ship that ran from Junon, where I was born, to Costa del Sol, and then drove down the coast, past the splendor of the Gold Saucer, which Daddy called a "pit of iniquity." We reached the great river south of the Gold Saucer during the flood season, and had to wait for a week until the floods had receded.

My kid brother loved to go play in the river, so it fell to me to keep an eye on the little brat and make sure he didn't swim into water that was too deep. I spent more time drawing in my sketch book than I did watching Zack, which was fine by both of us. He thought girls were weird, and, frankly, the brat drove me up the wall.

On the last day before the ford was shallow enough to cross, Zack and I went down to the river, as usual. I was wearing one of the red-and-blue outfits that Daddy loved seeing me in, and I was wearing the Ribbon that Daddy gave me on the last Founding Day. Daddy said that it looked so pretty in my hair, and that it was fitting for such a beautiful young woman as me. That was Daddy for you - always seeing the best in me.

Zack ran into the water, pulling clothes off in the usual haphazard way that a six-year-old does before going swimming. His laughter tinkled like a bell, and I grinned. Zack sure did love to swim.

I opened my sketch book and looked around. I saw a brilliant orange butterfly perched on a sunflower. It would be perfect. I started drawing and lost track of time, as I always do when I am concentrating.

"That's beautiful," a soft, deep voice said from behind me, breaking me out of my reverie.

Shocked, I rolled off of my elbows and looked back at one of the strangest sights I had ever seen. Standing behind me was a frog-man, about three feet in height! In his slender arms rested a short spear, and a livid scar crossed from his forehead to near the left corner of his mouth. On his back was a small sword, and he carried a bag with something inside it. By reflex, I shrank back from him.

"Please, I don't mean to scare you. I'm not going to hurt you." Seeing my apprehensive glance at his spear, he set it on the ground.

"Who are you," I whispered.

"My friends call me Patter, for the soft sound of my feet. I'm a Frog," he added wryly. "I was out, hunting on this side of the river and saw you drawing. I love pretty things, and I wanted to see your picture. It is almost as pretty as you are."

I was transfixed. This frog-man thought my drawing was pretty? And that I was beautiful?!? "It's just a little sketch I drew," I demurred politely.

"Then your 'little sketches,' as you put it, are very good." He laughed. It sounded almost like a soft croak. His laughter was infectious, and kind of funny, so I started giggling after a moment of listening to him.

We laughed for a while, and then I heard Zack getting out of the water. I looked at the Frog for a moment and sighed. "You had better go. My brother is coming and he'd want to catch you and take you home with us."

"Very well. Will you be here again tomorrow? I'd like to see some more of your sketches."

"If the ford is still too deep for us to cross, sure." I found myself liking this strange being.

"Then I will see you tomorrow!" With that, he hopped into the nearby brush. I swear, I didn't hear him land. I kept looking in the direction he had left, as Zack ran up to me.

"Hey, Sis! What'cha doin'?" He looked at my sketch book. "Eeww! A butterfly! Why don't you draw something cool, like this gecko I caught in the river?" He handed me a slimy black lizard, wet from the water.

Appropriately, I threw it as far away from me as I could, as I screamed. "Zack!" He darted away from me, an impish grin on his face. "When I get my hands on you..." I put my hands on my hips and glared at him. He just smiled and stuck his tongue out at me.

I looked down at my sketch book. Horrified, I saw a blob of slime had fallen from the lizard onto my butterfly! "You've ruined my picture, you little brat!" I picked up my drawing stuff and chased after the brat, driving him back to our camp.

When we got back to the camp, Zack complained to Daddy that I was trying to beat him up. Of course, Daddy asked me why, and I explained that he was responsible for ruining one of my pictures, and that I wouldn't really have beaten my kid brother up.

Daddy looked at Zack and his face grew serious. "Son, you need to learn that it isn't right to ruin people's things. Your actions ruined a picture that Maiji had been working on all morning. You wouldn't like it if she did that to you, would you?" Zack nodded soberly.

Daddy then looked at me. "Princess, I know that Zack ruined your picture. You need to take into account that he IS a little boy, though. He didn't mean to ruin it." Looking suitably chastened, I nodded.

"Good. Let's hear nothing more of this, then. Why don't the three of us make some lunch while your mother takes a quick bath?" We cheered. Both Zack and I loved to help out in the kitchen, even when we were camping out.

The rest of that day was a blur, as we found out after lunch that the ford would be shallow enough to cross in the morning. We spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up our campsite and getting everything packed again, as lots of stuff had been unpacked during our stay by the river. I forgot all about my promise to Patter in the bustle of getting ready to move on.

The next morning, as we got ready to cross the ford, I remembered. I hurriedly wrote a note and took a few of my sketches. Telling Mom and Dad that I had to go, BAD, I ran towards the river. I paid no attention to where I was going, the tears running down my face, until I ran into something, HARD. I went down with an "oof," and the creature I ran into floated backwards from me.

It was a strange man, whose features were twisted into a sneer. He wore a belled cap, and a black robe. As I watched, he threw a card into the air. It was a heart, and I felt the pain of our collision fade. He snarled, and reached for another card. From behind me, I heard a "Get down!"

I ducked, and a short spear flashed through the space I had just occupied. It smacked into the man's chest. A moment later, a slight form leapt over me, drawing its sword in mid-leap. _Patter!_

The man threw a second card into the air. A diamond! Nothing happened to Patter, who laughed. "Kinda hard to hurt someone with that when he has no money, isn't it, Joker?

The Joker's eyes narrowed in rage, and it pulled out another card. Before it could throw the card, Patter slashed the man twice, and the Joker fell.

Patter turned towards me. Concern was written all over his scarred, forest green face. "Are you okay?"

"I had to let you know that we were going on. I brought you these..." I looked down at the sketches I had brought. They had been badly crumpled when I fell down. I started crying, putting my head in my hands.

I heard a faint rustle, and looked up at Patter. He had a strange expression in his deep, black eyes, and he reached a hand out to me. Feeling my gaze, he dropped his hand back to his side.

"I have to go. My parents are waiting for me. Daddy has a job in Gongaga waiting for him, and we are late."

He looked at me in surprise. "Gongaga? I live near there. Perhaps we can meet after you settle in." He leapt and did a somersault in mid-air. "I will find a way to meet you outside of town."

"I think I'd like that," I said, with a touch of hesitation in my voice.

"Now, go! Your parents are waiting for you, and more Jokers might arrive."

I ran back to our camp, and told Daddy that I ran into a Joker outside of camp. Without another word, he hustled us into the truck and we drove towards the ford.

I was too scared to leave camp that night, or the rest of the three days that it took for us to reach Gongaga. Zack teased me about that, until Daddy pointed out that he'd be pretty scared if something had tried to kill him, too.

I think it was that final point that stuck with my brother and eventually caused him to decide to become a SOLDIER. For all of his teasing, he didn't like seeing me really scared.


	2. Chapter 1

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The Frogmen of the Apocalypse: Gongaga

by TacomaSquall

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Chapter 1

I had been in Gongaga for about three weeks when I first met Jonathan. I was returning from the market with some food that Mommy had asked me get while she was in the woods, locating a stand of rare Gongaga cedar that she wanted to be able to use for her work. I had three bags of groceries, and was struggling to carry them, when someone collided with me! I fell backwards, my bags falling to the ground, and their contents being strewn about.

Looking up, I saw one of the most handsome young men I had ever seen! He stood a few inches taller than me, with blond hair that flowed in waves to the top of his shoulders. He had broad shoulders that tapered slightly to a trim but powerful waist. I figured he was about one or two years older than me. He had dropped the toolbox that he was carrying, and was leaning forward.

"Are you okay?" His voice was a nice, soft tenor. I felt a chill go down my spine.

"I-I-I-I'm fine." I gulped in nervousness. "I didn't see you coming."

"That's okay." He looked at my parcels, haphazardly distributed on the ground around me. "Your groceries are all over. Let me help you pick them up."

"You don't have to do that."

"I helped make the mess. It's only right that I help clean it up. Besides, I have a few minutes before I need to get to the construction site for work."

Construction site?!? He worked on the reactor? That meant he was at least three years older than I was. "Okay."

We quickly gathered up my stuff, and put the parcels back in their bags. He took the bags and smiled at me. "Where do you live? I have enough time to walk a pretty girl home with her groceries."

"Ummmmm… I live out by the edge of town. We just got here not too long ago. Mom goes out into the woods nearby to find materials for her carvings."

"You're Harald and Francene Carpenter's daughter, Maiji, right?" He smiled in triumph. "I work for your dad."

The only person who worked for Dad, right now, was a fourteen-year old townie … This giant was Jon, Dad's apprentice? I blushed and hid my face behind my hand. "You must be Jon." I giggled. "I expected someone who looked younger."

He laughed. "I am big for my age. Let's get your stuff home, and then I've got to go to work."

Over the next few weeks, I found myself spending more and more time in Jon's company. He was fun to be with. He would always tell me his opinion, and it was obvious from the way he treated me that he was taught to treat girls (Daddy calls us 'young women') differently than the boys back in Junon. He would listen to what I said with patient attention, and offer his opinions, when solicited. He was perfectly willing to be dragged along with me when I would be struck by one of my usual flights of fancy. When I was wrong, he would patiently let me go in the wrong direction, and then wait for the moment when I realized I was wrong, at which point he would guide me back in the right direction.

A perfect example of this was the day when he took me to look at the Beggar's Climb, east of town. The Climb overlooked the site where the reactor was being built, and was one of the few spots in the area that was fully cleared. On a clear day, he said, you could see all the way north to the edge of Gongaga rainforest. He added that such clear days were the exception, and not the rule.

That day was one of the days that Jon swore you see the forest's edge on. He talked me into hiking out to the Climb with him, since he was off from working with Daddy, and Mommy didn't need my help on the chair set she was carving. Of course, she asked me to take the Brat along with me. We walked east from town for about an hour, with Jon leading the way. Eventually, the ground started to rise gently, and Jon said that we were nearing the Climb.

We walked for about another ten minutes, and then Zack bugged us to stop for a few minutes because he needed to go.

Jon insisted that Zack shouldn't go alone into the woods, off of the trail, but I cut him off. "Zack is a big boy, and can take care of himself." Jon shrugged in the way that I was coming to learn meant that we'd do things my way, at least for now.

Zack ran off into the brush. After about ten minutes of waiting, we started to worry. We headed after Zack, and found a spot where he had dropped his small pack and run into the bushes. At about that moment, we heard him yell in pain, ahead.

Jon darted in the direction of the yell, his longer strides eating up the distance between him and my brother. I followed after as quickly as I could.

"That hurt!" I heard Zack exclaim, ahead.

"I'm sorry, my boy. I didn't mean for you to get hurt." The speaker had a deep, almost sibilant, voice. "I can sing a song to make you feel better."

Jon yelled, "No!" He crashed through the underbrush and leapt between my brother and a Frog-man! The Frog was larger than Patter, and darker-skinned. He held a short knife in his hand, and was holding it like he was showing it to Zack.

Zack had a finger in his mouth, sucking on it. He had probably tested the edge of the knife and got a minor cut on the pad of his finger for his pains.

Jon raised a hand, balled into a fist. "Stay away from him! Don't you even think of singing a note!"

The Frog goggled at Jon, who towered over it, and decided that it would be a better time to be elsewhere. He hopped into the forest. Once again, I marveled at the leaping ability of the Frog-men, as I watched a single bound carry him a good ten feet up and fifty feet into the forest, where he landed on a tree. The Frog's black eyes stared at us indecipherably for a moment, and then the Frog leapt further into the forest, out of sight.

Jon turned to me, his body shaking in reaction. "The Frogs are dangerous around here. That's why I was trying to tell you not to let him go off alone." He smiled, taking some of the sting out of his rebuke. "You're not from here, so you probably have little experience with the monsters of the Wood."

Wordlessly, I nodded. Patter wasn't dangerous! He saved my life!

We went ahead and completed the hike. The view from the Climb was spectacular, although I think Jon exaggerated when he said you could see the forest's edge from it. Eventually, we went back to town.

Two weeks later, Jon celebrated his fifteenth birthday. All of the teen-aged children of the town were there, along with many of the kids of the construction crew. It was a big affair, with a bonfire, and games, and a group of musicians from the Gold Saucer. It was a lot of fun.

Late that night, as the party was winding down, Jon walked up to me. "Maiji, can I walk with you for a bit? I just wanted to talk."

"Sure! The party is just about over, anyway," I added. The party had been good for me, letting me make some new friends, and even giving me a chance to give a picture I drew of Jon as my birthday gift for him. I got a lot of compliments about the picture, which I drew based on my memory of his confrontation with the Frog-man, except he was protectively shielding a faceless woman from some threat not in the picture.

We walked out of the town and came to a clearing that Jon and I had found during one of our other walks. Jon stopped and looked uncomfortable.

"I don't always plan on being a carpenter's apprentice. I'm going to get a job in the reactor, once it opens, and work my way up the ladder there. There's a lot of opportunity in ShinRa for someone who is willing to work hard." I didn't understand where he was coming from. He wanted to talk to me about his career?

He shyly reached out and took my hand. "I wanted you to know that, well, I have really enjoyed the last few weeks. It has been a lot of fun doing stuff with you." My heart leapt in my throat. Unconsciously, I drew in a shallow breath and held it.

"I wanted to ask you if I could, well, you know…" He left it dangling. His hand felt nice, clasping my tiny hand in it.

"If you could –" I turned his words around on him.

"Well, if you would like…" He shifted uncomfortably. His hand rubbed mine.

"Come on. Tell me what's on your mind. You let me do it often enough." I grinned impishly.

"Well, I like you, and I was wondering…"

I think I knew what he was trying to say, but the way he was going about it, it was going to take forever! I reached up with my free hand and pulled his head closer to mine. He resisted for a moment, and then our lips met for a brief second.

Looking over Jon's shoulder as we kissed, I saw Patter, who I had not seen since our arrival in Gongaga. His eyes squinted for a moment in shock and pain, and then he sprang off into the forest.

I pulled away from Jon. "I'll be back." I didn't know what to do about Jon's question, or the turbulent storm of feelings I was experiencing, but I knew that he and I still had unfinished business.

I ran in the direction Patter had sprang, leaving Jon standing there, with a dazed expression on his face. What did I do to hurt my friend?

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To be continued …


	3. Chapter 2

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The Frogmen of the Apocalypse: Gongaga

By TacomaSquall

Chapter 2

I raced into the wood, as close as I could guess to the direction I had seen Patter leave. I couldn't shake the pain I saw in his expression, in that fleeting glimpse a few moments before.

I crashed through the undergrowth, heedless of the branches of trees that I pushed through. I had been running for maybe five minutes, when I stumbled. I was tripped up by a resilient bush. It was unwilling to let go of my foot, which was snagged between two of its limbs. Windmilling my arms for a moment, I barely caught my balance.

As I straightened, I realized that I had no idea where I was. The lights of town had been eclipsed by the gloom of the forest around me. My eyes had adjusted to the gloom, but I still was not able to see very far.

I cried, in a forlorn voice, "Patter? Please come back. We need to talk."

"He's not here," A soft voice answered from ahead of me.

"But we are!" Another voice, this one brimming with girlish exuberance.

"Yeah, we're a lot more fun than old, stuck-up Patter is!" A boyish voice chimed in.

I walked forward, hesitantly. "Who are you?"

"I'm Sky," a reedy voice piped from the forest canopy above. A slender Frog dropped to the ground.

Another one came from the bushes beside me. "I'm Orlehn," the Frog intoned in a surprisingly deep voice.

"I'm Ricia!" This came from a roly-poly Frog who hopped from ahead.

"He's Tanis, and I'm Tika." The speaker was one of two Frogs that were colored brown, instead of the green of their fellows. In the gloom, they were even harder to see than the green Frogs.

"I'm Splash." This came from a Frog whose skin was a brilliant emerald color. His skin glistened as if it were wet from water. I was surrounded by the Frogs who had spoken, and about a dozen more!

They milled around me, not quite daring to touch me, but wanting to. Then, a deeper voice, from outside the throng spoke.

"Younglings! Remember the first rule!"

"Yes, Hieros," the Frog children chorused in unison. They backed away from me, and arrayed themselves in three rows of five each. Then they began to sing!

The song of the Frogs was nothing like a normal song. The soft, warbling voices of the Frogs took hold of my senses, and I seemed to hear the suggestion of words underneath.

Come, play with us. Climb the trees and swim the streams. Join us in our song. Be one of us.

Suddenly the song broke off.

The Frogs looked at me in surprise. Ricia stepped out from the others.

"Hieros! She's not changing!"

"Children, go back to the village. I shall deal with this interloper." The Frogs scattered into the forest, racing and hopping away from me.

Out from the forest strode a strange being, about four and a half feet tall. It was vaguely frog-like, but it had a carapace on its back, and its skin was a dusty brown in color, which made it far easier to see in the gloom. As it walked forward with fluid strides, it drew a sword from a sheath on its back. As the sword's blade met the air, the blade ignited, lighting up the forest. "I cannot allow you to return to your town, human. If I do, the children will be endangered."

In horror, I realized he meant to kill me! I tried to run away, but my limbs wouldn't do anything. Paralyzed by terror, I froze, hoping that this was a bad dream I was about to wake up from. With wide eyes, I saw him draw his sword back to swing. I closed my eyes, unwilling to look at Death as it came for me.

"Master, NO!" Patter's cry came from behind me. "It's my fault she's here."

I opened my eyes and started crying in relief.

The shelled Frog (I later learned they were called Sahugin) halted his swing. Anger and concern fought an open battle for mastery of his features, until they were both replaced by a deep disappointment. "Patter, I have told you that we cannot seek contact with humankind. We are no longer of the people we came from."

"I know." My friend sounded very chastened. "I saw her and her family when I was out on a hunting trip across the river a few months ago. She's an artist, and I wanted her to draw Tara for her Transformation Day, next month."

"She wears a Ribbon."

"Yes, I noticed that."

"It makes her immune to the Song."

Patter nodded. "I know. When we met, she had been attacked by a Joker, and I couldn't let her die!"

"Your compassion does you great credit, my pupil, but remember that humans have betrayed us in the past when we have sought their companionship, friendship, or aid. We cannot risk our last settlements." Hieros was no longer angry at Patter, and seemed to be turning this meeting into a lesson. "There's no help for it. We are going to need to take her to see Tara. The Old One can make her judgment." The Sahugin sheathed his sword. As the sword drew near the sheath, the flames winked out of existence, leaving a blade that scarcely seemed warm.

Patter took my arm, and we started walking further into the forest. "Why did you chase after me?"

"I needed to know why you ran away from me when I was …" My voice trailed off.

"With your friend?" There was an undercurrent of tension and pain in the Frog's voice.

"Yes. When I was with Jon." I looked at Patter closely. His eyes were moist, and then I gasped. A transparent membrane had just closed over his eyes!

"You remind me of someone I used to know…"

"What do you mean?"

Hieros shot a glare at the two of us. "Stop it! There are some creatures in these woods that the two of you do not want to run into, and they flock to the sound of prey."

We walked on in silence. Patter hung his head in dejection and whispered, "I'm sorry I got you into this."

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To be continued …


	4. Chapter 3

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The Frogmen of the Apocalypse: Gongaga

By TacomaSquall

Chapter 3

We walked for about an hour in silence through the forest gloom. As we walked, I began to hear the sounds of the forest around me. I could hear the soft breath of the breeze as it blew through the trees, and the soft cries of the nocturnal denizens of the rainforest. It sounded to me that I was making enough noise for a Behemoth, while both Patter and Hieros moved with a silent fluidity that made them both seem to be mobile pieces of the night.

We passed through a dense copse of trees. These trees were taller than the ones near Gongaga, and they were gnarled and intertwined. The trees, in some areas, were twined together so much that you could walk, in the trees, for a hundred yards or more, without ever coming down to the ground.

As we neared the edge of the copse, a form streaked from the branches above and struck Patter full in the chest. My friend went down in a windmilling tumble of arms and legs and spear. When he stopped rolling, he was being held by another Frog-man, who carried the same type of short spear as Patter did. "And you say, you're a better hunter, Patter. I caught you fair and square that time!" He extended on of his hands to Patter and helped my friend stand.

Hieros shook his and sighed. "Yager, this is not the time."

The Frog, who stood a little bit taller and broader than Patter, looked defiantly at the Sahugin. "And why not? Just because old Scarface here is walking with the great messenger of our people does not make him exempt from being shown that there are better hunters in the forest than he is."

"Because I am taking him, and the human girl, to see Tara." Hieros sounded like he was running out of patience.

"So?" Yager looked over at me, and swept his gaze up and down my form. I had not seen such a predatory look before in my life. "Why don't you just let me sing to her, and the problem will be resolved."

"Because we are being brought to Tara for her judgment. I broke the edict forbidding contact with humans. I know you don't have much respect for those older than you, Yager, but Tara is the wisest of our people." Patter seemed almost amused by Yager's attitude. "This is no time for us to continue our contest. I promise that we will continue things later."

"Oh…" Yager was thoughtful for a second, and then he grinned (a strange expression on a Frog). "Well, good luck with the Old Hag, Patter!" He looked at me and chuckled. "If you want to have some real fun after you see Tara, come looking for me! I am definitely better company than drop-dead serious old Patter is!"" He hopped back into the branches above and vanished.

As we continued walking, I turned to Patter. "Are you alright?"

"Yager and I have been competing against each other for the last two years. Yager likes to make himself out to be the best at everything in the village, and I won't let him get away with it." He laughed. "Yager's not a bad guy, but he is full of himself."

We exited the copse and came to a less dense expanse of trees. I stopped and gasped in surprise at the sight I beheld.

The trees stood tall and straight, and were larger than any I had ever seen. There were branches that extended from one tree to the next, and elevated walkways. Cradled in the boughs of the giant trees were small houses! Forms of both Frog and Sahugin moved along the walkways of the small village.

"You live here?" I breathed.

Hieros turned to me, and the smile on his face was made bittersweet by the sorrow in his eyes. "Welcome to Nuavalan, the last city of the Frogmen of the Apocalypse."

We climbed up into the trees, and made our way toward one of the two largest houses in the village. It was nestled in the lowest boughs of a tree whose truck was thicker than our house in Gongaga! As we climbed, we passed a handful of Frogs, who stood out of Hieros' way, and waved of nodded or croaked friendly greetings at Patter.

The Frogs shared the same fascination, tinged with wariness, that the Frog children had shown to me earlier, and I heard a number of them start singing when they saw me. Every time they sang, I heard the same almost-voice underlying their song, and I realized that the Song of the Frogs was some type of magic!

We walked around the other large building in the village. It was a strange building, with no walls, just columns that supported the roof. Within, there stood a wrinkled Sahugin who was spreading some type of ointment on a ovoid shape that lay on its side in front of him. As the Sahugin applied the ointment, he was chanting.

"From balance to ruin, and back again.  
I call the Sleeper that he may awaken after the Change.  
The Change is passing, it is time to live again.  
Frog no more, you are Sahugin.

Once-Cetra, once-Human, now once-Frog.  
Forever Frogman, as the Apocalypse nears.  
Waken from the Rite of Transformation."

When the Sahugin reached the end of his chant, he began it again, from the beginning.

We walked on. I turned to Patter, and asked, "Who was that, and what was he doing?"

He grimaced. "He is Grennek. As to what he was doing, I'll let someone tell you what he was doing, because I am still not sure that I understand it exactly."

As we drew closer to the old house, we could see that there was a stairway in the bole of the tree, spiraling down toward the ground below, and climbing toward the top of the tree. The steps of the stairway seemed almost to have grown of their own accord, rather than being carved from the living wood.

The house itself (for lack of a better term) had no sharp edges, but seemed to flow outwards, like some growth, from the giant tree it was nestled in. There was a round door that opened onto the branch pathway that we walked on. It opened soundlessly to Hieros' touch.

"Come in, Hieros and Patter. It has been a long time since you visited me, either of you." A withered, old Sahugin hobbled forward. Unlike the other Sahugin I had seen, she was only as tall as Patter was. She smiled in my direction. "Come in, child. It has been a very long time since Nuavalan has been graced by someone like Maiji Carpenter." I was stunned. _How did she know my name?_

She must have been able to follow my train of thought, because she laughed. Her laughter seemed to contain all of the amusement of the elderly towards the young. Her laughter burbled like a spring brook, threatening to overflow its banks and sweep everyone who heard it away.

"My young friend is not as good at keeping secrets as he thinks he is." She snorted in amusement. "A surprise for my Transformation Day! As for how I knew your name, my child, before you leave here, you will know how I know you, and you will also know about us."

"Eldest!" Hieros was aghast. "Do you think this is wise? She is a human. Have you forgotten the slaughter near Corel a hundred years ago? The events in Wutai just five years ago?"

Tara turned to the Sahugin and shook her head slowly. "I am tired, Hieros. I have seen the fall of the Cetra and the rise of humanity. I have seen our rise and subsequent fall. I was alive when Jenova arrived, and I fear that I shall never see her final defeat. Her arrival is the only harbinger of the Apocalypse I have seen, and I at last know that our people shall survive. My time is coming, and soon another will take my place." She sighed and slowly walked back into the interior of the house. Wordlessly, we followed.

She led us into a large, open chamber in the center of the house. The central feature of the chamber was a bowl that was hollowed into the floor. I would guess it was about fifty feet in diameter, and there was a small fire pit in the center of the depression. Near the fire pit was a tattered blanket. Tara lowered herself onto the blanket, and gestured for us to be seated on the floor nearby. Hieros and Patter both sat quickly. I, a little hesitantly, sat down next to Patter (on the side away from Hieros).

In her soft, musical voice, Tara spoke. "Maiji Carpenter, it is my judgment that you will be able to return to your people. Your trespass was not intentional, and you will not bring harm to our people by being here.

"If you wish to return to Nuavalan, and keep your friendship with one of the warriors of the Frogmen of the Apocalypse, you must do something more. You must hear our tale. If you choose to be Patter's friend, then you will choose to become part of our story.

"What is your choice, Maiji?" The Sahugin elder turned her piercing gaze upon me. She was waiting for my answer.

I looked at the others. Both Hieros and Patter were looking at me. On Hieros' face was unbridled amazement. He could not believe that Tara was offering to tell me all of the secrets of the Frogmen of the Apocalypse.

Patter's eyes were bright with hope, but he also seemed uncertain. There was something dark and mysterious in their story. Something that made him unsure whether he wanted me to discover it.

My mind screamed at me to leave and never come back. Patter was just a Frog. My parents had to be terribly worried about me. And Jon! He'd never understand about this, and did I want to jeopardize what could be to be a Frog's friend.

However, the allure of the mystery surrounding these Frogs and Sahugin called to me. I wanted to know what the Song was, and they used it on me. I wanted to hear the story of this elder's life. I wanted to draw these people in my sketch book, to immortalize them – Tara's serenity and vivacity; Patter's sudden smile, and his serious, caring mien; Hieros and his flaming sword; the frenetic energy contained in the Frog children I met before; even Yager's cockiness! I wanted to find out what Patter meant when he said that he used to know someone like me…

Most importantly, I wanted to know who and what were the Frogmen of the Apocalypse.

Heeding to my heart, I nodded my assent to Tara. Tara leaned back and began, "This is my story. It is a story of beginnings and endings. It is a tale of children lost and a curse invoked upon those who turned away from the Planet's dire need. It is our story."

****

To be continued …


	5. Chapter 4

****

The Frogmen of the Apocalypse: Gongaga

By TacomaSquall

Chapter 4

Tara spoke. As she spoke, my mind raced back to the events she related, in a voice that dripped with grief.

"Many generations ago, humanity was not the dominant life-form on the Planet. At that time, while mankind began to discover the rudiments of civilization, another race thrived, in harmony with the entire world. They were the Cetra." As she spoke, Tara's voice gained strength and vitality.

"The Cetra themselves were a fairly complex folk. They were capable of great feats of magic, and were profound thinkers. Unlike the humans of this day and age, however, they used little in the way of technology. The Cetra believed that it was necessary to live in accord with the world around them, acknowledging the power and majesty of the Planet, They felt that one should not change the world, but should instead guide their surroundings into forms that both met the purpose needed, and fulfilled nature's design. Few cities were built by the Cetra for this reason."

"Their greatest city lay in the North, near the snows of the North Glacier. There, surrounded by an enchanted forest, the Cetra gathered their greatest wonders of magic and philosophy. The Cetra had grown to understand the spirit of the Planet, and the great Cycle of Life, and spent years plumbing its secrets. They discovered the power of crystallized Mako, known as Materia. During this wilder age, they bound the greatest of the beings who had been changed by the influence of Mako into the great Summon Materia."

"Far to the south, near what we now call Mideel, the Cetra had the center of their worship of the Planet. They called it the Temple of Life. I have since come to understand that humans call it now, the Temple of the Ancients. Within the Temple of the Ancients, the Cetra found two naturally occurring crystals of Materia, molded in the bosom of the Planet. One of these crystals was as pearly white as the most flawless pearl from the sea, while the other was a gem as black as the darkest night. These Materia had power bound within them that dwarfed any other Materia in existence. The Cetra named the Materia, respectively, Holy and Meteor." The elder Sahugin paused, and I saw a tear in her eye. Recalling this was painful for her!

"I was an acolyte of the Temple of Life, and was responsible for the guardianship of the two Materia. We had learned that Holy was a conduit for power that could only be used to preserve the life of the Planet, but Meteor was tied to a celestial object, and that using Meteor would call that object to us." Hieros shifted for a brief second, and I looked over at him. He looked like this was a story he knew by heart. "I was supposed to try and learn how the tie that bound Meteor to the distant celestial body worked. It was during the second year of my research into the nature of the powerful enchantment residing in Meteor that Jenova arrived."

"Jenova stated she was a traveler and a seeker after knowledge. We accepted her into our people, and she astounded us with her knowledge of magic. She was fascinated by Materia, as all of her magical abilities were innate, and quickly mastered the use of the standard magical Materia. Pressing for the opportunity to study more and more powerful Materia, she learned of the Summon Materia, and spent years in study of them. In the meantime, we grew no closer in our understanding of Meteor or Holy." Tara grinned suddenly at me, breaking from her narrative. "ShinRa is following a path that the Cetra walked down many years ago, and that Jenova also mastered. So much for the vaunted inventiveness of humanity."

She grew more serious, and continued. "Eventually, Jenova learned of the Lifestream, and of the Temple of Life. She came to our enclave, and joined us in our devotions. She seemed the most ardent of worshippers for some time, and grew to become my friend. One day, she found me, exasperated after spending an entire night in fruitless study of Meteor, and I told her of my studies. She offered her assistance, and I accepted." She sighed, as if remembering a long-gone friend.

"We spent a few weeks studying the Black Materia until, one evening, I was called to speak with the High Priestess about Holy. We were in the middle of an experiment, so Jenova offered to continue the experiment, while I left. I started to my meeting, and then realized I had forgotten Holy in the lab."

"I returned to see Jenova holding Meteor in her left hand, her head thrown back in exultation. A black light emanated from the Materia, and her body changed from the form she had worn around us to one that was dark and twisted and somewhat techno-organic. I shrank back from her, in fear. She saw me, and laughed in my face." A tear rolled down her wrinkled face as she remembered these events from a life so long gone that only she knew the tale.

"I called the power of the Earth to bind her in chains of stone, but she evaded my magic. She called upon the power of the great elemental beast, Kjata, who trampled me. I fell to the ground, barely conscious. Jenova towered over me, and drew her arm back to strike me with a hand now tipped with razor-sharp talons."

"Her claw started to move forward, but was grabbed by a mailed fist. As I watched in amazement, the greatest of the Mako-twisted, Arthur and his Knights of the Round, blasted Jenova with their power. Jenova staggered, dropping the Black Materia, and was forced across the lab. The High Priestess entered, with her most trusted Priest alongside her." 

"Jenova quailed in the face of such stern opposition, and before the Knights could strike again, vanished. I seem to remember the Priest bending over me before I also lost consciousness."

"My wounds kept me confined to my room, so I did not see the events that happened. I missed Garen's (the Priest who helped High Priestess Ifaine save my life) attempt to unlock the power of Holy, and his failure. I felt the shock of Meteor's arrival, but did not glimpse the Cetra's desperate attempt to heal the wound done to the Planet by sacrificing their lives. I never saw Jenova again, or saw her imprisonment within the chill ice of the North Glacier." There was a mixture of regret, relief, and anger in her voice.

"When I had fully recovered, I was called to the presence of Ifaine. To my surprise, Garen was there as well, and he was bound!" Tara's voice cracked and she paused for a moment, sobbing quietly.

I looked at Patter. His eyes were wide, and his attention was riveted on the elder in front of us. On my other side, Hieros rose, and he reached out to the Sahugin elder. "Eldest, you have not been well, and I know how much this story takes from you…"

Her voice became shrill. "She MUST know, Hieros. I have waited over two thousand years to tell her my story."

Something she had said earlier came back to me. She said that I would become part of their story. I stood up. "Tara, you do me a great honor by telling me your story, but I don't understand why you are telling me. I am just a fifteen-year-old kid."

She smiled at me. "In time, my child, you will understand." She turned back to Hieros. "I am fine. You need to save your energy and care for those who need your shepherding. I do not need your guidance or protection. When Death comes for me, I will take his hand gladly." Hieros looked about to argue, but Tara pre-empted any argument by looking him in the eyes, her gaze boring into his, compelling compliance.

Tara continued her tale.

"Garen and I were being punished for our betrayal of the Planet. I had given Meteor into Jenova'' hands. Garen had failed to unlock the power of Holy, because he sought to compel the power contained within. He did not understand that the power of Holy could never be forced into play, but only prayed for."

"Ifaine had a unique punishment for us." Her voice became bleak. "Because Cetra do not kill other Cetra, we were not to be executed. Instead, we were to be cursed. It was our curse that we would be transformed into Frogs, and that the Frogs would forever be a lesser race, unworthy of the company of the Cetra, until such time as we had redeemed ourselves for our failure in the face of the Planet's need."

"Correspondingly, we would no longer bear the names that we once bore as Cetra. Garen would be known as Grennek, and I, once known as Astarte, would only be known as Tara. The people we were would no longer be in the annals of the Cetra. We no longer existed."

"After Grennek and I were transformed, we discovered the fact that we had no ability to reproduce as the other creatures of nature did. We went to Ifaine, and she revealed to us the nature of the Frog Song."

"Over time, our numbers grew, as we began to transform those who were lost and helpless into Frogs. We found that the Song worked on both Cetra and human, and discovered that time's ravages did not touch us like it did the Cetra." Her eyes twinkled. "Ironically, this meant that we would outlive everyone who fought against Jenova."

"About a hundred years after we were cursed, Ifaine called me to attend her at the Temple of Life. She was dying."

"I went to the Temple, and she told me of her plan to make sure that no one ever meddled with the Black Materia again. After her death, the Cetra would abandon the Temple. He Temple would be sealed, so that anyone seeking to move the Black Materia would be crushed within the Temple. She wanted some of the Frogs to help protect the Temple. I agreed."

"I will never forget the night Ifaine died. It was two days after she had revealed to me her plans for the Temple. I was summoned to her presence, after dark. When I arrived, she was drenched in sweat and was clearly feverish. As she saw me enter, she smiled at me and greeted me." As Tara spoke, I could see the scene she described.

*****

"Welcome, my daughter." The woman who spoke was bony and frail, and was shivering uncontrollably as she lay on a sleeping platform. She smiled in a death's-head grimace at the beautiful, forest-green, smooth-skinned Frog (Tara) who walked into her chamber.

"Mother." There was a knot of emotion in Tara's voice.

"I wish that I had not lost you so long ago, my child." The aged Cetra coughed in a paroxysm of pain. When she stopped, she wiped her mouth with a cloth. It came away, reddened with blood.

"Mother, you did what you had to do. We had failed the Planet, and Jenova almost destroyed everything." Tara hopped forward and reached out to the Cetra priestess.

At that moment, Ifaine screamed in agony. In mid-scream, her voice changed and become deeper and harsher. It spoke, and its words were etched forever in my memory.

"Apocalypse is coming,  
The dark one has fallen but is not destroyed.  
The traveler shall live again.  
Her child shall call destruction

Defenders shall come  
Challenged to sacrifice,  
Firstborn and lastborn must together fight.

Guardians must fail in their cause,  
And the defenders be betrayed  
To save the world.

Apocalypse is calling.  
Be wary, child of the Apocalypse.  
Your people shall find salvation  
Or damnation.

When Meteor comes.  
When the last Cetra dies,  
When the lastborn journeys beyond the skies,  
When the painter who paints from the soul's canvas arrives,  
When the twisted return, greater than before –

In an age of the lastborn,  
In an age of twilight and fire,  
Apocalypse comes.

Frogman of the Apocalypse –  
If you are worthy,  
The Apocalypse shall be your people's salvation.  
If you are not,  
Then all are doomed."

Ifaine arched her back in terrible pain, as the voice ended its words. She collapsed on the platform, and Tara pulled her close in her arms. Ifaine looked in her daughter's eyes, and she, ever-so-faintly, smiled. "Astarte, your daughter is in hiding with humans in Wutai. She may need your help…"

"Mother, I promise that I will come, or send someone to help my children or their children if they need help."

Ifaine never heard Tara's promise. Her eyes stared, unseeing, at the Frog.

Tara held her Cetra mother close, and rocked. As she rocked back and forth, she keened out her grief and loss.

*****

I blinked in sudden surprise. I realized, as I saw the Frog and the Cetra priestess, one living, and the other dead, that I could see the scene. By some magic, we saw what happened on that day so long ago.

Tara had stopped her story. "Yes, Maiji Carpenter. What magic I have left is part of my storytelling. I can make others see the events I relate, when I have the strength." She chuckled. "Of course, Hieros seldom permits me to use my magic any more, because he believes me to be old and frail."

Hieros protested, "You are old and frail, Eldest!"

Patter laughed. "Master, I have never before seen someone so old and frail, but yet alive, in my life! If permitted, I am sure Tara would be out having a little bit of fun with your charges from earlier." He looked at the elder Sahugin, and added, "However, we all treasure you, Eldest, and would rather protect you from everything if we could."

"Even Yager treasures you, I am sure!" I added, with a laugh. The others joined in after a moment, even serious Hieros.

Tara smiled, as we stopped laughing. "Maiji, you have a gift. I would be honored if you would allow me to watch you use that gift, and help you develop it. You are potentially the greatest artist of our time."

I couldn't believe what she was saying. "Me? I just draw some sketches…"

"Your drawing and painting are central to your gift. Have you ever felt that you weren't getting something right when you were drawing a subject?"

__

How did she know? That was why I was almost always dissatisfied with my drawings! Wordlessly, I nodded.

Tara's eyes glittered in the faint light of her chamber. "That is because you are drawing what your eyes see. I can teach you to draw with the eyes of your soul."

****

To be continued …


	6. Chapter 5

****

The Frogmen of the Apocalypse: Gongaga

By TacomaSquall

****

Chapter 5

The next three years passed in a flurry of activity. The days that I wasn't helping Mommy with the carving work, or by watching Zack, I was busy with my drawings. If I wasn't drawing, I was in school, or with Jon, as he courted me in his charming, uncertain manner. When Jon wasn't trying to convince me that I should be his steady girlfriend, I was out helping father by learning how to design houses, and drawing blueprints for him. When I wasn't doing any of the above, I was off in the woods, meeting with Patter, Hieros, Tara, Yager, Orlehn, and the others who became my friends amongst the Frogmen.

I discovered a lot of things about myself in that time. I found out that there were practical and profitable applications for my talent in the construction business. The day I graduated from school, I was hired by ShinRa to work as an architectural intern. They spoke of sending me off to Midgar to attend an engineering school there, where I could apply my knowledge of line and design to become an architect.

I also discovered that I didn't love Jon the same way that he loved me. I was pretty certain that he would ask me to marry him as soon as he had completed his apprenticeship with Daddy, and I did not know what I was going to do. I liked Jon a lot, and would be thrilled to have a husband as devoted to me as he would be, but there was just something missing. I couldn't get over his prejudice toward the Frogmen.

For that reason, I kept the purpose of my woodland sojourns a secret from everyone, which was a huge strain. To help cover my activities, I started sculpting, and found a few clay deposits in the hills of the rainforest. With Jon and Mommy's help, I built a small hideaway, where I could work on my artwork, without distractions. Eventually, my retreat became something that was accepted as one of my oddities.

I also changed from the lanky girl I was in earlier years into a willowy young woman. My raven hair, which always seemed to have a will of its own, was finally tamed, and fell in waves to past my shoulders, when it was unbound (clay is not fun when it is in your hair). The rest of my body finally caught up with my arms and legs, and I finally gained the curves I always used to envy my cousins, Elmyra and Lucresia, having. Now, when I looked in the mirror, I could not argue that I was not pretty.

The people of Gongaga liked me, but thought that I was kind of odd. They did not have any other artists in the town, so the people envied my talent. The townspeople were all dead-set against the Frogs, and I discovered that whenever an unexplainable accident happened, or someone disappeared, they would blame the Frogmen. It wasn't until later that I discovered that they had reason to fear the Frogs…

*****

Talos looked around the clearing. It was a couple of hours past midnight, and the attendants of the reactor nearby were asleep at their posts. Talos smiled. His young friend's magic had seen to that. "Hurry up! If we take too long, then we will fail, and ShinRa will have more of us for use as test subjects, Shander."

A lanky Frog hopped out of the woods. He stood head and rounded shoulders taller than Talos, almost reaching five feet in height. "OK, Talos. I'm ready."

The two alternately hopped and strode through the clearing and into the compound around the Mako reactor. Their passage made no sound, cloaked as they were in Shander's magic. Two short forms made out of the night, any casual observers would have supposed, forms that seemed to flow up to, over, and around the fences, gates, and sundry other security measures implemented by ShinRa to protect the reactor from terrorist action or attack from their enemies in Wutai.

Briefly, the two were standing outside the locked entrance to the reactor. Talos looked at the locking mechanism and smiled. In an era of burgeoning technology, ShinRa was still relying on mechanical locks to keep their facilities secure. Talos grinned and removed a delicate set of probes from the neck pouch he always wore next to his scaled hide.

The happiest Talos ever was when he was a street thief in Midgar, some sixty-five years ago. He learned the trade of the burglar and cutpurse well, and made a small reputation for himself in the slums. That all changed when he tried to pick the pocket of a raven-haired man in a business suit.

__

Everything had went fine. Talos had sized up his mark, and made his move in the middle of a crowd in the Wall Market. The mark was average height, and seemed to be unaware of the bustle of Wall Market's busy streets. The suit was black, and well-tailored. The man had probably never shopped for clothing in any of the many shops in the burgeoning slums of Midgar.

Talos darted forward, and brushed past the man, his hand snaking into the errant professional's pocket and pulling out his wallet. The man's face had a scar that stretched from the left corner of his mouth to just under his ear, Talos noted as he started to run away. He came up to a jarring halt, in the middle of his first stride. Looking back, he saw the man had grabbed his hand, with the wallet clutched within, in one long-fingered hand.

"A little street rat. I think the Project could find use for you." The raven-haired man smiled, and Talos felt a chill run down his spine. The suit, the scar, the blinding speed… this man was one of ShinRa's elite, the Turks!

Talos looked around frantically for help, but no one was about to help him get out of the predicament he was in. He tried to wriggle free, but the man's grip was as tight as a miser's wallet, and as strong as a vise. "Let me go!"

The last thing Talos saw was the man's revolver, held by the barrel in his other hand, as it whipped across and struck the thief full on in the forehead.

In the weeks that followed, Talos was subjected to a battery of tests in a laboratory. The man who ran the tests on him was a short, disheveled man, who kept muttering about he wanted to create the perfect race. The scientist poked and prodded Talos. The thief was scraped, probed, bled and intubated for some purpose that he knew nothing of. Eventually, the scientist, Doctor Heinreich, ordered his assistants to cage the thief and prepare him for transport.

Talos fought desperately, but the assistants were large men, obviously chosen for their ability to subdue recalcitrant test subjects and not their scientific prowess, and they subdued the thief easily. He was forced into the cage, and one of the toughs injected him with a clear serum. Within minutes, Talos found himself not caring about the world around him, content to be a passive observer of the universe.

Talos was carried into a van, with the ShinRa Bioengineering Division's logo embossed on the side. The van drove with him to another place, a lab where Talos underwent experiments that made him less than human.

Talos never forgot the events that followed, the hell that ShinRa put him through. He swore he would gain revenge on all those that had turned on him, and it had been more than sixty years in the making. This would be the first blow in his campaign.

*****

__

I was trapped in the depths of Gongaga rainforest, where a faceless enemy was stalking Patter, Tara, and I. Already it had killed Hieros, and left the Sahugin's flaming sword embedded in the messenger's smoldering corpse. Now, it glided after us, two dark eyes burning in hatred.

I sprinted ahead of the others, my longer legs eating up ground at a pace that Patter, burdened with the Sahugin elder, could not keep up with. I darted between trees, and crashed through underbrush, making enough noise to scare off every rabbit and vole in the forest, and perhaps draw every predator in the wood, as well. Somehow, I sensed that these predators could be used as a weapon against the one that was hunting us.

While I trusted to speed to protect me, Patter and Tara were trusting to guile. Their passage was noiseless and fluid, but slow. I was getting further and further ahead of them.

In my headlong flight, I crashed into a figure that was not in the darkness ahead of me when I had last looked ahead. With surprise, as I fell, I realized that I had run into Jon!

He helped rise, and concern was written all over his face. "Where have you been? Everyone has been worried about you." He looked as exasperated as I had ever seen him. "What would I do if I lost you?"

He pulled me close to him, into an embrace. Our lips met in a deep kiss. Since our first kiss, Jon and I had kissed again, but it never seemed to have the magic that it had held that first time. This time, however, the contact was electric, and it felt like I could feel the energy passing between us. I closed my eyes, succumbing to the sweet electricity that coursed between us.

I felt his hands move across my body, and gasped in surprise as he touched one of my breasts. I opened my eyes and was shocked to see that Jon had been replaced by a silver-haired man, taller and more slender than Jon, with the number 7 tattooed on his forehead. I struggled to get free, and he grinned as he held me tightly, his hands roaming as he willed, over my body. Then I felt pain, as one of his fingernails scratched me, drawing blood!

I looked in horror, paralyzed, as he raised his hand, which now had nails that were razor-sharp, to his mouth and licked the blood off of his fingers. It was then that I realized that I was not with a normal human being.

Guessing at my realization, the being in front of me seemed to flow into another shape; the techno-organic likeness of Jenova from Tara's story. Her claws grew sharper, and her grin became feral. Her burning eyes, I realized, were the eyes of the being that was hunting us, the one who had slaughtered Hieros with his own blade. She whipped one of her taloned hands back for a lethal swipe.

"Here begins the end of the Frogmen, for if you die, so do they." The alien monster's voice was thrilling with exultation.

"NO!" With a leap, Patter sprang between Jenova and me, bringing his short blade up in an attempt to block Jenova's blow. Jenova's hand streaked forward…

I surged forward, out of my bed. There was an explosion in the distance. It was followed by a couple of other explosions in rapid succession. I pulled on some clothes, just in time to be dressed when Daddy knocked on the door and told me that there had been sabotage at the Mako reactor. Someone had broken into the chambers near the center of the reactor and shattered about three dozen Mako containment vessels. There was a Mako spill, and the vandals had also set charges to the reactor's cafeteria/break area.

It was believed that the vandals had some sort of magic, for not a single member of the security detachment spotted the intruders. In fact, most of the security detail had been awakened from a sound slumber at their posts, by the explosions. Some terrorists had gotten their hands on some Sleep Materia, it seemed.

****

To be continued …


	7. Chapter 6

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The Frogmen of the Apocalypse: Gongaga

By TacomaSquall

#### Chapter 6:

On the morning after the terrorist attack on the Reactor, I left home to go to my internship at the Reactor compound. No one had contacted me to tell me otherwise, and I did not feel it would be right for me to just forget about going to work, even if terrorists had attacked last night. Besides, I sincerely doubted that they would have been after anything in the little cubbyhole where I worked at a drafting table.

As I walked the distance that separated Gongaga from the Reactor, I pondered the nightmare that I had just before waking to the alarming news that the Reactor had been attacked. I was confused, because the memory of the creature's touch, caressing me in the dream, both repelled and excited me. I was repelled by the horror of the creature, its razor-sharp talons and techno-organic features. But I had felt something that I had only barely experienced when Jon and I first kissed. Was this what Elmyra was always talking about, when she talked about boys?

Lost in thought, I wasn't paying attention to the twists and turns of the pathway, until I had stepped off of the pathway and into the lush undergrowth that marked the border between man's domain and the wilds of the Gongaga rainforest. I stopped, and started to turn to get back into the road. As I turned, I planted my foot on a fallen bough that lay in the bushes at my feet. The branch yanked itself out from under me.

Bewildered, I staggered and hastily tried to keep my balance. My arms windmilled, trying to gain purchase somehow by grabbing the air itself. I failed and fell backwards. When I landed in the brush behind me, I felt some of the sturdy, but slender limbs of the brush I fell into jab me, sharply, near my ribs. The impact knocked the wind out of me with a solid "Whoof!"

Stunned, I watched as a gangly Frogman, a full five feet tall, levered itself to a sitting position. It massaged its leg, which I had taken for a deadfall bough, wincing as it touched the area where I had placed my weight. It was a miracle that I had not broken the poor creature's leg.

"That hurt!" It tried to get up and hop away, but the leg could not bear enough weight to be able to leap with it. It started to hobble away from me.

"Wait!" I called at the Frog. "I didn't mean to hurt you! Perhaps there is something I can do to make your leg better?" I had a portable first aid kit that Daddy insisted I carry with me wherever I went, since I was determined to spend so much time in the forest alone. There were always a couple of Potions in there, along with some pills to help relieve pain. Maybe they would do some help for this Frog.

The Frog tried to stop in its hobbling shuffle, and placed its weight upon its injured leg. With a cry of agony, the Frog collapsed. Without a second thought, I ran forward to him, bulling my way through the undergrowth. As I ran, I shrugged my pack off of my shoulder (I usually carry it by one of its straps), and opened the pack to get at the first aid kit.

I knelt at the Frog's side. I noticed that there was an elongated slash in his belly that had reopened from his exertions, or when he fell. Blood was starting too ooze out of the wound. The Frog was clutching at his injured right leg, specifically below his knee. I ignored the old wound to take a closer look at his leg.

From the cursory inspection I could give it, his leg did not look like it was broken. It was not hanging at an abnormal angle. The green skin of his leg was mottled and purpled, and it looked like he had a serious bone bruise or possibly a muscle strain or a sprain. However, I had had worse, from the time I decided I was going to try and climb to the upper plate in Junon. I broke my leg from hitting the girders on the way down when I lost my grip and fell. According to Zack, a dolphin had saved my life, pushing me to shore, where I could be resuscitated.

I reached into the first aid kit, and pulled out a small bottle. "You need to drink this. It will help you heal some," I admonished the Frog. He blinked back tears of pain, and nodded, as I opened the bottle and poured the Potion into his mouth. He coughed at the acrid taste, but swallowed the draught.

As I watched, a faint, sparkling green light suffused the Frog's skin, and he gasped in surprise, as the pain lessened. The ugly, purple mottling of his skin faded to a pale yellow that was barely visible against the lambent hue of his skin. The slash across his belly closed, and faded to a pale line that crossed him from left to right.

"Are you still in pain?" Slowly, he shook his head, amazed at the cessation of his agony. Trying to lighten the mood, I quipped, "The wonders of ShinRa Pharmaceuticals."

I was surprised by how worried I was about the Frog. I was afraid he'd be found by one of the other townspeople, and blamed for the attack on the Reactor. I didn't know then that he was involved…

*****

Talos watched, from his hiding place, as the girl tended Shander's wounds. He grimaced sourly. _Another loose end left to tie up._

The girl looked familiar to him, and he fought to remember where he had seen her before. His mind went back, as he quested through his memory for the young woman's face. _She can't be…_

Talos awakened from a sound sleep to see a woman's face a few inches from his own. "Are you okay?"

She was a little younger than he was, and was dressed in the same overall that was given to all of the Professor's test subjects, a blue garment, made of a synthetic fabric that caressed the skin as softly as silk did, without being as heavy. It clung becomingly to her full curves, showing them off to what would have been, in a different situation, a very stirring effect. Her hair was shoulder length, raven-black, and wavy. Her eyes were wells of near-ebon depth. The woman's nose was petite, and her chin had a slight cleft in it. Her face openly showed concern for Talos' well-being, which surprised the hard-bitten thief.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Get outta my face." When Talos spoke, he saw a fleeting expression of pain cross the woman's face as she pulled back from him. Talos realized that he was alienating a possible ally in an attempt to escape. "Hey, I'm sorry. I'm not used to having someone ask me how I am doing."

Mollified, the woman stopped pulling away from Talos, and she nodded. "From your scars, you must've had a pretty tough time before you were captured."

Talos nodded curtly.

"I'm Jessan. I used to live in Wutai, before I was captured and brought here. I have been a captive for the last three weeks. Two weeks ago, you were brought in, and subjected to the same …" Her voice trailed off into silence.

Talos remembered the agony of the burning fluids that had injected into him. He remembered the restraints that held him down as they prodded and poked him, that held him down so that he could not stop them from putting another dose of the poison within him.

They said they were going to make him into a superior man, and all they were succeeding in doing was hasten his end. Now, he could feel the liquids burn within him for an hour after the treatment, before being subdued by his body's defense mechanisms. The pain lingered for more hours, with surcease coming only just before the next treatment.

"They did this to you, as well?" His voice rasped from screaming that had worn his vocal cords nearly raw.

"Once only. They say that I am a … a breeder. I think they wanted me to …"

Talos caught her meaning and frowned in anger. There was no way that he was going to do what they wanted and bed this girl, just to provide another generation of test subjects.

The door to the cage rattled, and Talos' prime tormentor looked in. "Awake at last, hmmm? It is time for your next treatment, Subject #142."

Talos snarled in rage, but held himself back. He knew there was no way that he would be permitted to harm the Professor, and all that trying would do was buy him was greater pain. He stiffened and grudgingly permitted the Professor to open the cage door enough for an orderly, armed with a shock-stick and carrying restraints, to enter the cage.

"Good, 142. You are realizing that resistance is futile. You will serve the cause of science whether you will it or not. It is just so much better for all concerned when you don't resist."

The orderly took Talos' hands and pulled them away from the thief's body. He clasped the two hands together and fastened them in a set of special handcuffs, designed to offer exactly as much resistance as the captive applied force to them. After attaching the cuffs, the orderly pulled Talos to his feet and half-led, half-dragged him from the cage.

As the orderly dragged Talos to what turned out to be last Mako treatment in ShinRa's care, the Professor turned to one of the other orderlies. "Release the woman in #142's cage. Make sure her memories are suppressed, and create a new identity for her in Junon. Keep an eye on her and her children, when she has any. They may be of value to the Project…"

The Frogman shook his head. There was no way that this child could be Jessan. In a moment of clarity, he remembered where he had seen her before. He had lured her brother away from the road a few years before, and was about to transform him, using the Song, when she and her boyfriend had arrived. At that time, he felt it was the better part of valor to escape, for he doubted that he could transform all three of them before one of them could escape to warn the townsfolk. The last thing Talos wanted then, was for the townspeople of Gongaga to be alerted to his intentions before he had begun his plan.

He sensed that her involvement in things at this point could be very useful, if he could just arrange for things to happen the right way…

*****

"You're the human girl that the Eldest has taken a liking to." His tone was matter-of-fact.

I nodded. "Yeah. I'm Maiji Carpenter. If I had to guess your name, it would be Daphne." I referred to a danger-prone girl from an old cartoon I used to watch on television back in Junon.

He laughed. "Actually, my name is Shander. I just came to Nuavalan from our people to the east, over by Mideel and Condor Fort."

"I hope you didn't swim all the way across the ocean." There was something about this ridiculously tall Frog that instantly put me at ease. For one thing, he, now that he was no longer in pain, seemed so open and friendly that it was impossible not to like him. His eyes had a sparkle, as if he were always laughing at some joke that the world was playing on all of us.

He laughed again. "I stowed away on the boat from Costa del Sol. I'm glad you had that Potion, or else I would have never been able to get back to Nuavalan. I really do need to get going."

"I'm late for work, too! I'll look for you the next time I visit Tara and Patter, okay?"

He grinned and nodded. "I plan on being in the area for quite a while."

I continued to the Reactor, waving farewell to my new friend before he hopped into the forest. All things considered, today was turning out to be a pretty good day.

****

To be continued …


	8. Chapter 7

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The Frogmen of the Apocalypse: Gongaga

By TacomaSquall

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Chapter 7:

The rest of the day passed slowly. I drafted a design for a large series of chambers that, according to the label on the file, was supposed to be a reactor room, with several coolant bays. The file indicated it was going to be built on Nibel Mountain. As I worked, I couldn't dispel Shander from my mind. There was something about him that I knew, but couldn't put my finger on…

The thing I remembered most about him wasn't his easy-going, disarming grin or his irrepressible sense of humor. The thing I remembered most about him was the slash across his belly. The slash had been an older wound that was partially healed when I met him. The slash was in a location that would have endangered his life, without treatment, when it was inflicted. This meant that Shander had been able to do something to treat the wound. Perplexed by the dilemma, and intrigued even more than I had been when I met the lanky Frog, I began to sketch Shander while I thought some more about how he could have gotten that nasty wound.

He had a slash across his belly, probably inflicted by a knife or sword. The wound was partially healed, like what happened when a single Potion was not sufficient to heal a seriously wounded person. He was hiding from people when I stumbled across him. Last night, terrorists attacked the reactor compound. I was headed to work at the compound this morning…

Shander had probably encountered the terrorists! In fact, he may be able to help us catch the terrorists before they can strike again!

Excited, I looked down at my sketch. I was stunned by what I saw.

Instead of the lanky Frogman I had encountered this morning, my sketch was of a tall, slender man. He had a short thatch of hair on his head and was clean-shaven. His face was narrow, tapering to a pointed chin. His eyes glinted with mischief, and he was smiling. Looking at my sketch, I realized that his hair was red, and his eyes were green. I knew instinctively that this was Shander, before he heard the Frog Song.

I folded the sketch and put it in my pack. Then, I got up and walked towards my supervisor. He was a tall man, in his mid-20s, who had graduated from the school of Engineering in Midgar. His name was Ashin Lambert.

He saw me walking towards him. "Miss Carpenter, what do you need?"

I grimaced. "I think I ate something bad for breakfast. I can't work very well. Is it alright if I call it a day and go home?"

He frowned. Mr. Lambert didn't like it when his people were sick. Sick people meant more work for others to do, which meant more chances of other people getting sick due to added stress. After a moment of consideration, he nodded his reluctant assent.

"Thank you, sir." I turned to walk away, but halted when my supervisor spoke again.

"Get well soon, Maiji. If we can get things done soon, we can give President ShinRa a big surprise when he comes here for the opening ceremonies, a month from now. And ShinRa rewards success very well."

As I walked away, my thoughts were jumbled, a maelstrom of different ideas, all competing for supremacy in my mind. Shander is a lead to the terrorists. President ShinRa is coming here for the opening ceremonies for the reactor, in one month. I had drawn Shander before he became a Frog! President ShinRa rewards those who serve him well. How well would he reward me if I catch the terrorists!?!

By the time I had reached home, my nerves had caused my stomach to do flip-flops, as if there were butterflies inside. I didn't have to fake being sick. I went in the house and lay down in my room. I didn't come out for dinner that evening.

That night, my mother knocked on my door. I called, "Who is it?"

She answered, "It's your mother. Maiji, may I come in?"

"Sure, Mom."

My mother opened the door and walked in. She was about the same height I was. Her long, black hair was tied into a tail that stretched to the small of her back. Her dark eyes were just ever-so-slightly slanted, one of the few indications that Grandmother was originally from Wutai. Looking at her, still pretty after twenty years of woodcarving, I could see what the future held for me, as I aged.

"Your father says that you came home early today."

"Yes, Mother. My stomach has been upset all day." For some reason, I felt embarrassed to be telling Mother the story I had decided I was going to tell anyone who asked why I left work early today, and why I stayed home sick tomorrow.

"I see." She pursed her lips in thought. She looked uncomfortable, like she was debating whether she should say something. Her brow crinkled and then relaxed, as she made her decision. "Maiji, why don't you and I go to Costa del Sol, next month? I am going there, to sell some of my pieces. I've seen some of your work, and think you might be able to sell some of it as well. We'll leave Zack with your father, and make it a girls-only trip."

We used to do "girls-only" stuff when we were in Junon. We'd go catch a movie, or go shopping, or just go out to eat, but it was a chance for us to talk about sensitive topics. We hadn't done a "girls-only" since we moved to Gongaga, three years before. Mom was always busy, and then I started spending so much time in the forest. I nodded, full of enthusiasm, realizing how much I had missed doing things like this with Mom.

"Do you really think I might be able to sell some of my drawings?" The idea was thrilling.

"Maiji, you are a better artist, at your age, than I am now. If you were in Midgar or Junon, you would be able to live very well, supported by your art."

"Mom, can we leave right after the Opening Ceremonies for the reactor? I will be pretty busy until then, but I will be able to get some time off after that."

"Certainly, Maiji." Mom smiled at me. She turned to walk out of the room, and then paused. "Maiji, is there something that you want to tell me about you and Jon?"

"Ummm, no."

"It is just that sometimes, girls don't wait until they get married before they experiment with certain things, honey. When they do that, they can get pregnant. One of the early symptoms of pregnancy is sickness like you were experiencing today."

I was aghast. "Mom! Jon and I have kissed, but I haven't done that with him! I want to wait until the right time." I wasn't like some of the popular girls in Junon, who would have sex with guys without thinking about what they were doing. I wanted my first time to be special.

I also wanted to love the man I gave myself to. While Jon and I were close, and good friends, I just did not feel that way about him. Frankly, I was getting tired of the way that everyone, even my parents, assumed that we were going to marry and have kids. What made it worse is that Jon was head over heels about me. I couldn't understand why I knew that he wasn't the right one for me, but I did.

Mom nodded in relief at me. "When a young man and a young woman spend as much time together as you two have, and when one, or both, of them go off alone frequently, it is sometimes assumed that certain things are happening, Maiji." She smiled. "I, for one, am glad that you have made the decision to wait. You are already going through so much, and being active in that way adds extra things for a young woman to worry about."

Mom turned to leave. Quickly, I blurted to her, "Mom, I don't love him." I don't know why I said it.

She turned back, surprise written on her face as plain as if she were carrying a sign proclaiming her astonishment. "Maiji! Does he know?"

"I keep hoping I will fall in love with him. I keep expecting the romance that Lucresia and Elmyra talk about in their letters to me, but it never happens." I frowned. "Maybe there's something wrong with me."

"Maiji, when the time is right, you will meet the one that you were meant to meet. Everyone has at least one person that we can, and will, love, when we finally meet them." She patted my shoulder and walked out of the room. "You need to tell Jon, because he is in love with you, and it isn't fair to him."

"I know, Mom."

As she closed the door, my mind raced away from the topic of the conversation with Mom to my plans for the next day. Tomorrow was when I set out to find Shander and show my picture to him, and to Tara. After I found him, I would ask his help in finding the terrorists.

I knew that if I tried, I could present President ShinRa with the terrorists on the day of the Opening Ceremonies!

****

To be continued …


End file.
